Chapter 4

– Ah! You scared me! – Edina was so surprised that her true emotions burst out.

Lirien silently shrugged his shoulders when he heard the Countess's cry.

– What are you doing here?

–What did the Countess just do? – Lirien asked, looking intently at Edina.

'It is obvious that he witnessed everything that happened inside the «hotel» some time ago,' – Edina cast a quick glance at Edward, who thought exactly the same as the Countess, so he nodded slightly, as if agreeing. Shit.

– I had business here, – the woman drawled with an impudent expression on her face.

Lirien pushed off from the door jamb and walked slowly towards her.

'What's the matter? Terrifying…'

It was already late in the evening, so the red sunset rays fell on Lirien's beautiful face.

'Wow, he looks incredibly like a painting,' – Edina involuntarily thought, but immediately mentally slapped her cheeks, ordering her to get ready and be attentive.

Now he is the most dangerous person for me!

– You have assigned your man to me.

Hearing this, the Countess immediately looked at Edward.

Such words meant that he could not do his job properly, but her assistant, with an even angrier expression than Edina herself, was writing something in his notebook.

Edina decided to choose the most optimal answer:

– I hate Viscount Winston. That's why I sent my man with His Highness. I was wondering if I could see the Viscount's weaknesses that way.

– What… You say you followed me to find out my uncle's weaknesses… Do you seriously think I would believe that?

– Don't you believe it? – Edina asked out of genuine curiosity, but Lirien was looking at her with an extremely puzzled expression on his face.

– There is a saying that the enemy of my enemy is my comrade, – the Countess said with a shrug.

When the woman said this, Edward, who was standing next to her, immediately hissed that this could not be.

'Exactly. There is no such thing in this world. Edward, you are so kind,' – rudely ignoring the words of the assistant, Edina continued:

– So what were you doing here?

– I was attacked. It seemed to me that they belonged to the Ordo Guild, so I watched them.

'It means that Ordo's assassins didn't touch a single hair of Lirien.

The main character really has great skills. Ordo's killers, the most notorious in the capital, are unlikely to be found after they tried to kidnap Lirien.'

– Your Highness, every time I see you, you are being attacked.

The prince was silent, not knowing what to say.

'Well, really, I'd better protect Lirien myself,' – thinking about it, Edina suddenly realized that this was a very, very good decision.

'Will everyone think that it's my fault that I stole his «heart» if I'm around him?

Now no one knows the truth, except the «real» Countess Edut, who is dead.'

– Do you want to stay in my mansion? I will protect you from those who hunt you.

– It looks like the Countess has gone mad, – Lirien replied very coldly and turned away.

'Does he think this will make me embarrassed and back off?' – Edina scratched the back of her head and, meeting Edward's eyes, shrugged her shoulders.

'I'm sorry, but I can't do that.'

*****

There were two reasons why Countess Edut was able to accumulate a huge fortune in a short period of time.

The first was that she sold Lirien's "heart" to a neighboring country and received a huge sum. The second was that the Countess had taken over the information network about the entire top of the LaMadinus.

In addition, Edina collaborated with all sorts of guilds, such as Murderers' Guilds and Thieves' Guilds, and used them for profit without the slightest hesitation.

The Isaac Sanagdan financial network was managed by Bilter. Bilter was a man who tried to become a faithful dog of Countess Edut.

Edina sat down opposite him and looked at Bilter, who was completely confused.

The Countess had heard that he was in his early thirties, but Bilter had already lost his hair, his bald head was shining, his face was incredibly fat, and terrible fear was splashing in his narrow eyes.

In addition, due to Bilter's severe obesity, Edina could clearly see how the buttons on his jacket were holding on with the last of their strength.

'I hope they don't fly off right now?' – as soon as the woman thought about it, the button that was on Bilter's stomach came off and hit her right on the forehead, as if to signal that it was time to finish.

As soon as the button flew off and hit the Countess on the forehead, Bilter bowed his head, drenched in cold sweat. But Edina's gaze didn't even flinch.

'No, all his suits must be made to order, I absolutely do not understand why he puts on a tight jacket every time, from which the buttons come off…

Is he having fun beating me with buttons?' – Edina rubbed her forehead and looked at Bilter with displeasure.

The Countess's stern gaze made Bilter turn even paler:

– So, about the creation of a financial institution called «Edut Bank»... – and, pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket, convulsively wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Edina angrily threw away a button that had fallen into her lap and looked at Bilter.

The tea that had been placed in front of her on the living room table had long since cooled down.

In fact, the Countess did not even touch him, because she did not know what Bilter could do with him. Although he did his job well, he was still not a reliable person.

'Bilter and I better not trust each other.'

– Didn't Isaac Bank initially start working with money? Changing and just storing money is a waste of time. What about the creation and merger with Edut Bank? And you will be its president, – the Countess said, speaking about the new name of the bank under the old leadership.

The acquisition and expansion of Isaac banks was a good move in many ways. This would be the initial influx of existing customers who used these banks.

Edina looked at the dirty papers spread out in front of her.

These were the papers she had given Bilter a few days ago. The papers were yellowed and had stains that probably spoke of their careful study.

– Admirable, Countess Edut has a wonderful flair for money! You handled the cash flow so quickly!..

Ignoring Bilter's useless words, without turning around, the Countess raised her hand.

And, noticing this signal, her personal assistant Angela took out the documents and handed them to the Countess.

Edina took the papers and threw them right on the table:

– It's a contract. Don't make any noise and read it carefully later.

The reason she continued to do business with Bilter was because no one could match him in money management, even though Bilter himself was quite unpleasant.

– Uh, a loan for military requests… what is it? – Bilter asked the Countess, reading the contract with a pale face.

– ...the reason for the creation of «Edut Bank» – is «transfers» between savings accounts and «loans». I am also going to open a branch of «Edut Bank» in each region, so that it is possible to withdraw cash anywhere and at any time.

'Due to the insufficient development of information and communication networks, the processing speed of the «transfer» between banks will be quite low, but it is better than nothing.

The «loan» business is what I need to get my «heart» back Liriena.'

Edina was going to return the real "heart" of the main character, which the "real" Countess Edut sold to the kingdom of Verody.

And, of course, when she sent a request to the Kingdom to return it, she was abruptly refused.

As a result, after much thought, Edina came to the conclusion that she needed to help the Kingdom of Elot, which was currently at war with the Kingdom of Verody, to win.

So, for the military funds lent to the Kingdom of Elot, the Countess demanded that the «heart» of Lirien, which is located in the Kingdom of Verody, be returned to her. That was her original plan.

'It will be good if I can earn a lot of money by opening my banks.

Money is the unchanging truth of life, the best way to live in any world. There's nothing like money. Heh.'

– Recently, there has been a war in the southern territories of the western continent. It has been going on for 5 years, so it is clear that such a weak country as the Kingdom of Elot will soon face financial difficulties due to the cost of military resources and their procurement. We will «lend» Elot the funds for this. And then we will monopolize the financial sector of that territory.

– The reason why this financial contract begins to operate not in our country…

– This work should be based on «credit» and «trust». Creating this is a very difficult, long-term and time-consuming task. After all, a bank is an institution that is not necessary if no one uses it. But what if money is needed urgently and there is no time to question creditworthiness and trust?

Hearing this, Bilter exclaimed enthusiastically.

It was the first time he was so interested.

In fact, there were many banks that played a role similar to the «Edut Bank» that Edina was going to found.

A typical example of this is the bank of the capital Isaac.

However, there was no institution with a well-thought-out financial system like «Edut Bank».

«Isaac Bank» was mainly engaged in the exchange of currency for tourists, the storage of gold coins and the issuance of bills of exchange.

Although Isaac Bank gave loans to individuals, this procedure was not systematic and did not carry the name «loan», besides, no one was going to give large amounts of money to the Imperial Family, even to aristocrats.

It was clear what place a small bank would take, which suddenly gives a loan for military expenses.

In addition, Edina's business was doomed to success. It was because she knew the future.

Therefore, I perfectly saw the directions where it is better to invest money.

'It doesn't matter if this future deviates from the future in the novel.

As long as I have an information network like Edut, it will not be difficult to organize a plan B.'

– We'll start there. The LaMadinus Empire will be the last. Eventually, we will dominate the financial industry on all continents.

Bilter's gaze, looking at the Countess, changed. He couldn't contain his excitement at the thought of becoming the president of Edut Bank.

Edina stood up and looked at Bilter:

– When dealing with Elot, we need to be sure that we have a solid foundation in LaMadinus. It's up to you to decide how to convince the merchants association of each country. I think, first of all, it is necessary to allow their high-ranking officials to use the bank. Their cash flow is more frequent and active than that of the nobles.

– If you need to deal with the merchant guilds, then leave it to me!

At Bilter's words, the Countess smiled and nodded.

'Bilter is said to be very influential in the merchant guilds.'

– Yes, I believe in you. That's the only reason I came here, – Edina briefly said goodbye, left the living room, and then quickly headed for the exit. She needed to escape faster than the staff would come out.

However, unfortunately, because of Bilter, who voluntarily followed the Countess, the entire staff bent in a bow and loudly said goodbye:

– Countess, be careful on the way!

As a result, today they said goodbye to Edina as if she was the leader of the mafia.

'Oh, how I hate it!

Extremely embarrassing!'